


When You Give a Wraith a Name

by bagheerita



Series: my name forevermore [3]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Fluff, Gen, Trans Character, Wraith gene therapy, Wraith-human interactions, more of an extra scene than a full story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 05:44:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17616623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bagheerita/pseuds/bagheerita
Summary: "To show you that we accept you as part of our hive," the bold Wraithling says, "we will undergo the human ritual of naming."





	When You Give a Wraith a Name

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place during chapters 24-25 of "Nemo," while the narrative characters of that story are otherwise engaged.  
> Some of these characters will become more central characters in later stories, so I wanted to explain the names, and give Jennifer a chance to really geek out about science, but the scene didn't really fit in "Nemo" anywhere so it's its own story now.

"So after he told me that the younger participants responded more positively, I realized it could be because of stem cells," Jennifer finishes, speaking to the Wraith who sits across from her. From what she understands he is the one who has been heading the gene therapy project on the Wraith side. Two of the Wraithlings from the nest sit watching both her and the older Wraith with rapt attention, being much quieter than they had been earlier. She adds, "That’s the name we’ve given to cells with the potential to develop into other types of cells."

The Wraith nods thoughtfully. "I understand. Our team did not take that approach, though we did determine that the younger the participants the more likely success would be." He frowns as he looks for a way to explain. "The process of feeding changes a Wraith’s body in subtle ways. It is a… signal to the rest of the body that it has progressed to other forms of nourishment. We believed that Wraith who had never fed would be able to process the change to their system more easily, as it would be a suppression of a change about to occur rather than a change to their existing way of being."

Jennifer scowls. "There must be a way to make it work for Wraith who are already post-pubescent."

The Wraith grins widely, displaying more teeth that Jennifer’s really comfortable with. "Of course, that is what we mean to explore in future tests. But, this was a place to start, to ensure that the possibility was even viable."

Jennifer grins. "That makes sense," she allows. "I guess I want too much to make it happen faster."

The Wraith regards her thoughtfully. "Your enthusiasm is warming, though not surprising."

Jennifer’s smile gets a little wan, but Adrien, sitting next to her, guffaws. The Wraith shifts his amused look to Adrien who seems to appreciate the show of teeth a lot more than Jennifer did.

Jennifer’s just playing around with the microscope, trying to nerve herself up to asking for a blood sample from the older Wraith. She finds him more intimidating that the Wraithlings, and she’s not sure if it’s because he can kill her with his bare hands or because it’s something she _knows_ he’s done before. It would be fascinating if she could identify differences in the blood between Wraith who’ve lived on the feeding process and the Wraithlings who haven’t. She has other samples back on Atlantis of course, but if she could look at comparative samples here, now, the Wraith might even be able to help her shortcut the process of isolating the exact differing element.

Her fiddling must be annoying because Laura, sitting on her other side and taking notes on a clipboard, suggests, "I know we’re not really equipped for anything intensive here, but if you're going to be looking at samples under the microscope, maybe we can start taking down some hard data, hmm?"

Jennifer releases the microscope. "Yes, um, good. We'll need labels for the samples," she says hurriedly.

"Let’s get everyone back and we’ll take a full set," Adrien says, standing and beckoning Alvarez and Brigid, who are walking in the orchard with the majority of the Wraithlings. He turns to dig through the supplies for labels.

The Wraith watches with interest as Jennifer organizes a group of vials. He and his two companions are slowly joined by their five brothers. They don’t speak, and Jennifer realizes that the Wraith likely communicated the scientists’ intentions to the Wraithlings by their mental hive connection.

Laura has a clear sheet on her clipboard and starts putting together a data chart. She makes a thoughtful noise. "So I think it would help if you all picked names," she says to the Wraithlings as she looks at the seven of them sitting now around and in-between the group of humans. Her hand hovers over the chart for a moment. "Or we could assign everyone empirical designations but that feels a little impersonal, doesn't it?"

The boldest of the young Wraith cocks his head. "What does ‘pick names’ mean?"

The older Wraith explains to the humans, "The nest usually spends its early years without any contact with humans, and since the treatment they have been kept largely in isolation as it was unknown how their immune defenses would react to the gene therapy."

"Well," Jennifer explains to Wraithlings, "humans all have names. It helps us tell each other apart."

The Wraithlings look at each other in confusion. "I can tell my brothers apart," the bold Wraithling says, as if doubting the brain capacity of the human mind.

Brigid giggles, and Jennifer rolls her eyes. "Well, what if you wanted to tell me about one of your brothers and he was on the other side of the orchard?" Jennifer challenges. "How would you tell me which of your brothers you were talking about?"

The Wraithling cocks his head and thinks. "I see. Humans are very limited in their mental abilities."

Alvarez snorts and tries to cover it with a cough.

The older Wraith grins, baring pointed teeth. "Humans do not have the ability to speak mind to mind," he cautions the youngster, "but they have other abilities."

"Like what?"

"I don't suppose the fact that we continuously discover amazing biological and medical breakthroughs would impress you, hmm? We can cure AIDS," Laura rants under her breath. "We can successfully clone mammals."

"Not to mention the effective implementation of the gene therapy _we_ developed," Jennifer says, just a little salty.

Though the young Wraithlings seem mostly content to let the bold one take the lead, one of the others pipes up to say, "The therapy that _our_ scientists perfected." He frowns. "And the advantage of which yet remains to be tested."

Most of the other Wraithlings curl their lip in response to this, like they don't _want_ to agree but kind of do.

The older Wraith hisses loudly, and all the younger ones jump. "You do not know of what you speak," he says, leaving it, grumpily, at that.

The youngsters are silent for a moment, before the bold one pipes up again. "How does a human go about choosing a name?" he asks curiously.

"Mostly we get named when we're babies and our parents choose them," Jennifer begins.

The young Wraithlings all look to their elder. "Parents?" the bold one says, testing the word.

"All humans are born from a female mating with a male," the older Wraith explains to them. "So they each have two genetic forbearers who raise them in single family units."

The Wraithlings all recoil at the strangeness of it.

"For the most part," Adrien puts in. He runs a hand through his hair, pulling the longer strands off his forehead, and trades a wry grin with Laura. "Sometimes parents don't want to keep their offspring and they toss them out, alone." All the Wraith hiss in alarm. "And sometimes you realize the name you were given isn't really one that fits you." He shrugs.

The bold Wraithling reaches for Adrien and lays his left hand on Adrien's leg in amity, his face aghast. "To be alone... I cannot fathom. And these parents must be very evil. This is what comes from the lack of hive, the absence of hivesense."

Adrien reaches out in turn and rests his hand on the young Wraith's shoulder. "We humans have a thing we do called 'found family.' It's where you choose your own family, from people who love you." Laura leans over and kicks him affectionately.

The young Wraithlings all look at each other. "Your brothers should care for you," one of them mutters, still disturbed. "I understand now, that the Ancient One means us to reach out to the humans and teach them about the benefits of hive." All the Wraithlings nod.

Adrien and Laura share a look. "Well, there are definitely some people who could stand to hear about it," Adrien says graciously.

"Very well. To show you that we accept you as part of our hive," the bold Wraithling says to Adrien, "we will undergo the human ritual of naming."

Jennifer inhales sharply; she hadn't expected that. For them to eventually let her team assign them designations maybe, but to choose it as a sign of their allegiance? "Thank you," she says.

"You will have to tell us more about the custom of naming," one of them says. He is sprawled on the ground, his short hair tossed about by the wind.

"Well if you're going to choose one for yourself, it could be something descriptive, something that reveals something about you," Brigid offers shyly.

The bold one narrows his eyes thoughtfully. "But _without_ hivesense," he muses. "So that it may be understood fully by humans. That makes it quite difficult. What are words you use to describe things about Wraith in your tongue?"

Jennifer doesn't really want to say _freaky, with a side of scary_. She looks at the others.

Brigid frowns. " _Taibshe_ ," she says, then blushes.

The bold one nods. "I like this sound. It will be my name," he says decisively.

"That was quick," Jennifer murmurs. "What does it mean?" she asks Brigid.

"It's Irish," Brigid says, looking down at her hands, her blush not fading. "My Mamó taught it to me when I was young. It means a ghost."

Laura nods. "That's like a Wraith," she agrees. "Know any other fun Irish words?"

"If our names are meant to signify us in particular," one of the other Wraithlings speaks up, "should they not be titles wholly unique to us?"

Jennifer blinks. "Um. Yeah, I guess. But unless a bunch of other Wraith want the same name I don't think it'll be a problem. And we can add another name. For example, my name is Jennifer Keller, because Jennifer itself is a fairly common name."

The Wraithling still looks displeased. "Unique identifiers should still be used," he says, sounding so pedantic that Jennifer feels a pang of homesickness.

"How about Euryth?" Laura says unexpectedly. "I promise, no one else will have that name."

Adrien shoots her a glare. "That's because it's not a real word."

"It's half a word," is Laura's response. "Or, half of someone's favorite 80s synthpop band." She raises her eyebrow at Adrien and he responds with an eye roll. "And," Laura continues, "Therefore a totally unique name."

The young Wraith nods. "Yes. I will be known among the humans as Euryth."

Taibshe nods to Euryth, and they grin widely at each other. They turn to their brothers.

The Wraithling who is sprawled on the ground says, "Tell us more words that are like Wraith."

"Well, they're like, aliens right?" Laura gestures to Brigid.

"Mamó didn't teach me a word for aliens." Brigid blushes harder. "Not this kind anyway, and none that I want to repeat."

"Don't have to be an alien word." Alvarez puts in solicitously and shivers. " _Tibur_ ó _n_ ," he mutters under his breath.

The sprawled Wraithling cocks his head. "Tiburon?" he says, putting the accent on the wrong syllable.

"It means 'shark,'" Laura says. "It's a large predator from our home planet." She taps her teeth then points to the Wraith. "There's some resemblance."

The young Wraith grins. "I like it. Tiburón," he says again, getting the syllable stress right, then says it again the first way, "Tiburon. I like it better this way. Does that change the meaning?"

Alvarez looks impressed. "No, everyone will know what it means."

Tiburon grins his shark-grin, and looks at his brothers.

The one sitting next to him glowers. "Colonel Sheppard had titled our queen as Helen. I want a name that reflects that I am tied to her." The others all look impressed, like this is an idea they should have thought of.

"How about Ilium?" Jennifer suggests.

"Helen was only a princess in Troy," Laura puts in. "She was a queen in Sparta."

Jennifer rolls her eyes. "I was thinking of the poem, not the history, but whatever."

"Ilium," the Wraithling repeats, ignoring their interplay, then nods. "I will be Ilium."

Jennifer smiles, pleased to have been able to help.

The older Wraith watches the younger ones with amusement.

"We can find a name for you, too," Adrien tells him. "If you’re going to be working with us on this, it would be only fitting."

The Wraith raises his chin and looks at Adrien from under lowered lids, his sensory pits flaring. "What name would you choose for me?"

"What name would you like?" Adrien counters. "Something daring and Wraithlike, or something utterly unique, or something that ties you to your queen?"

The Wraith wrinkles his nose. "Something significant of what we achieve here," he says after a moment's thought.

" _Comhghuaillíocht_ ," Brigid says eagerly, as if to redeem herself. "Or, maybe _comhar_? It means an alliance, or to cooperate."

"Comhar," Adrien repeats, tasting the word, and grins.

The Wraith is watching him and nods slowly, returning Adrien's grin.  "Yes, it will do," Comhar says. He inclines his head. "My thanks."

The Second arrives then, and Taibshe stands to greet him. "We are receiving names in the human tradition," Taibshe declares boldly, "to honor our alliance."

The Second regards him for a moment with an expression close to disdain before his eyes drift to Comhar, and he finally sighs. "That is well thought." He folds his arms and grudgingly admits, "I am aware that Sheppard has given me the name 'Kenny.'"

He doesn't ask for its meaning, but Brigid says softly, "Cináed," the syllables near to being the same, but with a lilt to them that gives them a different emphasis. Everyone looks at her, and she blushes again. "It's more of a Scots name, the first king of the Scots was called such. It means, ‘one who is born of fire.’"

The Second narrows his eyes at them. "What is a 'king'?"

"Humans have either male or female leaders," Alvarez starts.

"Usually more male than female," Adrien adds.

Alvarez shrugs in acknowledgement of the truth and continues, "A king is the male equivalent of a queen."

The Second bares his teeth in a silent laugh. "Trust humans to defy every rational way of being."

He doesn’t seem impressed; which Jennifer thinks is fine. Not all Wraith need to be happy with the names Sheppard comes up with for them. Jennifer turns the attention away from the Second and back to the Wraithlings who remain nameless. "Well, do you lot have an idea what you'd like?"

The three of them look at each other.

"I understand the reasoning for having names," one of them, with his hair in a long single plait, says evenly, "But I don't feel strongly about it. Give me any designation. It is not important to me."

Brigid spreads her hands in refusal of responsibility. Laura grins maniacally at the possibility of mischief and Jennifer frowns at her.

Before Laura can cause trouble, Alvarez says, "How about Alejandro?" He looks away, embarrassed, and clears his throat. "It was my uncle's name."

The Wraithling nods. "Alejandro," he repeats. "Actually, it is very nice. It will do for me," Alejandro nods peaceably. The Second snorts at him, softly.

The last two look at each other.

"I want something unexpected," one of them says thoughtfully. "A name that leads those humans I meet to underestimate me." He regards the sharp claws on his hands. "And then I can correct them." He grins.

"Violet," Laura bursts out, unable to contain herself any longer. "Or Daisy? Rose? I think a flower theme..."

Jennifer snorts. "Yeah, 'cause Wraith are a lot like flowers."                                                  

"That’s the literal _point_ ," Laura exclaims.

"I like this," the Wraithling says, grinning. "I will be Daisy, yes?" He cackles, and Jennifer has to admit the name will definitely achieve the unexpectedness that he asked for.

"Just you left," Adrien says to the last Wraithling.

The Wraithling purses his lips and tilts his chin up in challenge. "Tell me a word that means, ‘to look out over a new frontier with hope,’ and I will take it as my name."

"Wow," Jennifer murmurs. Comhar rests a hand on the Wraithling's shoulder in approval.

The humans all look to each other.

"Do you know a word that means that?"

"It's not a word but, _Ojala que si_? It means, 'I hope that it will be so.'"

"Aye, we've _ta sui'l_ in Irish, or maybe _teorainn dóchasach_? But, it's not everything you're asking."

Laura, with a seriousness about her that seems almost out of character, says, "How about, Blue Sky?"

Everyone quiets.

"Okay," Jennifer allows. "How so?"

Laura takes a deep breath and starts to sing in a strong alto voice, "'She’s got a smile that, it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky.'"

Everyone leans back in surprise and Adrien rests a hand on Laura's knee and squeezes.

Taibshe leans forward in delight. "Wraith do not have a tradition of spoken lyrical words!" he exclaims.

Comhar looks impressed as well. "That is true. All Wraith traditions of which I am aware make use of mentally shared lyrics while the vocal tract is used to produce tonal notes, and even the humans I have interacted with prefer instrumental accompaniment, with spoken words being rare."

The last Wraithling interrupts Comhar’s explanation to Jennifer and gestures for Laura to continue. "Tell me more."

Only Laura and Alvarez can carry a tune without help, but they all make a go of it and by the time the Keeper returns they are embroiled in a full scale argument about the benefits of various musical traditions, to the point where the Keeper is almost christened 'Madonna' without understanding why. She departs again, with the Second, leaving the nest and scientists to their own devices until the falling of evening has them all packing up their gear and headed off in search of supper.

"Come eat with us," Taibshe invites the humans.

After spending the afternoon with them, Jennifer can't even muster wariness at the invitation. Brigid and Alvarez look a little more skeptical, but everyone nods in acceptance.

"The soup is to die for," Daisy says seriously, then cackles with laughter.

"You cannot make jokes like that," Taibshe chastises him.

"No it's okay," Adrien grins. "I think this is going to be a time when humans and Wraith are really going to enjoy a meal together."

"Hopefully the first of many," Blue Sky says solemnly.

"I'll drink to that," Jennifer says with a smile.

**Author's Note:**

>   * I know just enough Spanish to embarrass myself, but all Irish words and translations are provided by wordhippo.com. Meanings of actual names come from behindthename.com. 
>   * The "poem" Jennifer refers to is the speech from Christopher Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus which begins: “Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships, / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?” while the "history" she discards is the actual epic poem The Odyssey.
>   * The song Laura sings is Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child o’ Mine.”
> 



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